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COLLECTION Identifier: MS Am 1605-1605.5

Austin Tappan Wright papers

Overview

Contains correspondence, and manuscripts of Islandia by American lawyer and writer Austin Tappan Wright.

Dates

  • Creation: 1901-1958

Language of Materials

Collection materials are in English.

Conditions Governing Access

There are no restrictions on physical access to this material.

Extent

3 linear feet (10 volumes and 3 boxes)

Contains carbon typescripts of the uncut version of Islandia, and "Islandia: History and Description," purportedly written by Jean Perrier, first French consul to Islandia; together with preliminary sketches, promotional material and correspondence concerning the publication and reception of Islandia, including letters from Leonard Bacon, Elmer Davis, and Maxwell E. Perkins. Also includes a volume of manuscript poems, Dreams and Other Verses; and college writings of Wright.

Biographical / Historical

Austin Tappan Wright (1883-1931), Harvard Class of 1905, was a lawyer and law professor at the University of California and the University of Pennsylvania. In secret he wrote a lengthy utopian fantasy, Islandia, which was published posthumously in 1942 in a shortened version by Farrar & Rinehart.

Arrangement

Organized in call-number order.

Physical Location

MS, b, pf

Immediate Source of Acquisition

59M-235; 59M-236; 59M-237; 59M-238; 59M-239; and 59M-240. Deposited by Sylvia Wright Mitarachi (Mrs. Paul J. Mitarachi), 725 Orange Street, New Haven 11, Connecticut; received: 1959-1960 April- March.

Immediate Source of Acquisition

62M-82 and 62M-83. Gift of John K. Wright,through Sylvia Wright Mitarachi, 725 Orange Street, New Haven 11, Connecticut; received: 1962 September 6.

Processing Information

Please note that the volumes were numbered consecutively for paging purposes. Volume 1 of MS Am 1605.1 is actually Volume 2 of the collection; Volume 2 of MS Am 1605.1 is actually Volume 3 of the collection and so on.

Title
Wright, Austin Tappan, 1883-1931. Austin Tappan Wright papers, 1901-1958: Guide.
Author
Houghton Library, Harvard College Library
Language of description
und
EAD ID
hou01122

Repository Details

Part of the Houghton Library Repository

Houghton Library is Harvard College's principal repository for rare books and manuscripts, archives, and more. Houghton Library's collections represent the scope of human experience from ancient Egypt to twenty-first century Cambridge. With strengths primarily in North American and European history, literature, and culture, collections range in media from printed books and handwritten manuscripts to maps, drawings and paintings, prints, posters, photographs, film and audio recordings, and digital media, as well as costumes, theater props, and a wide range of other objects. Houghton Library has historically focused on collecting the written record of European and Eurocentric North American culture, yet it holds a large and diverse number of primary sources valuable for research on the languages, culture and history of indigenous peoples of the Americas, Africa, Asia and Oceania.

Houghton Library’s Reading Room is free and open to all who wish to use the library’s collections.

Contact:
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